Meet Herry Kim
Herry Kim is an artist exploring virtual and physical reality, computer-generated imagery, and artificial intelligence through world-building. Interested in artistic possibilities and cultural implications of ever-evolving technologies, her transmedia practice involves building 3D assets, interaction design, and research.
Capital-Rhythm 2022
Capital-rhythm is a world within VRChat constructed around the prompt of “K-pop debut performed by capitalism.” The project explores the K-pop phenomenon as a reflection of our increasingly enumerable culture in parallel to technological development. The prompt stemmed from the interest in a saturated system and saturated visual culture and the desire to mirror our times through art. What is the essence of the culture of our times, and how can artists capture it within their work? What mechanism perpetuates the creation and distribution of certain beliefs and images? By contemplating the production and distribution of the coercive nature of the commercial culture in the form of sound and image in the entertainment industry, we can think about the present and future of the societal system we live in.
In collaboration with
Byungkyu Lee – Assistant Developer
Hyunbae Earm – Graphic Designer
Shoji Yamasaki – ChoreographerJune Green – Vocalist
Sumin Ha – Character Designer
This project was supported by CalArts Dean’s Reserve Fund and Diversity Grant.

Customers LOVE Our Food! 2021
in collaboration with E_reum – Costume Designer performed duringTime Capsule 2021, Osisun, Seoul
Regression 2020-2021
single channel video, 00:07:44
In Regression, I explore the realm of ‘user data’, accelerated by pattern recognition and generation technology(also marketed as artificial intelligence)within the increasingly automated world. I aim to critique the state of exploitation of user data by information technology corporates. The current information society is depicted as a metaphorical structure with rusted pipes and opaque clouds. An agent with artificial intelligent persuades people to hand over their data so that it can suggest the best life path for the users in return.
sound by Brian James Griffith



Shame 2020



In collaboration with
Hani Kim – Artist
Hyungkyu Kim – Engineer
Taehun Lim – Engineer
Yoonyoung Jang – Artist
audio visual installation, robot, weight sensor, silicone, aluminium, velvet
The sin of Artificial Intelligence technology is the sin of humans after all. Cosine presents a confession booth where the viewer can hear the confession of text-based artificial intelligence that learned “human errors”. Through the generated confession of the artificial intelligence, we aim to objectively present the dark side of technological development and let humans reflect on ethical issues on their own.
인공지능의 죄는 결국 인간의 죄다. 코사인은 이러한 대전제 하에 인간의 잘못들을 학습한 텍스트 기반 인공지능의 고백을 듣는 고해성사 부스를 선보인다. 인공지능의 고백을 통해 기술 발전의 어두운 면을 객관적으로 제시하고, 인간 스스로 윤리적 문제를 성찰하게 하고자 한다.
Shh 2019

Neutral 2019



On October 28th, 2019, Apple released series of emojis that are intended as gender neutral option for existing ones in iOS 13.2. The emojis depicted gender neutrality with median length of hair compared to woman and man, with grey shirt on. Women emoji had pink shirt on and man had blue. The gesture of inclusion brought my attention to the awkwardness of the existing system. What does this new representation actually mean? What is the cultural implications of replacing words with corporate-generated emojis in our day to day lives?

Neuroshment 2020
In collaboration with
Freddy Ruiz – ML content generationSeungun Kim – 3D renderThe work was intended as a playful exploration of machine learning technology in the setting of remote collaboration. During the recent pandemic, the three artists worked remotely together on building ‘Neuroshment’, which is a ‘fully generated’ supplement company for the growing babies. Machine learning was used as a tool for generating images, videos, and sounds in the website. The layout of content is inspired by Vaporwave, which is a genre of electronic music emerging as a satirical take on consumer capitalism.
Lorem Ipsum Friends 2019
When I was making Lorem Ipsum Friends I was investigating human interaction via digital platforms, image generation technology, and the absurd. The narrative of this work is that a person finds random people to talk to on an app named “Lorem Ipsum Friends.” The work reflects my experience of searching for attention and affection on random chat websites and apps. There are so many fake identities on the internet, and image generation technology nowadays makes it harder to tell what is “real”. If it is our profile photos that persuade others to talk to us behind the screen, the generated images of non-existent people hold agency. As Hito Steyerl said on Duty Free Art, they are the new crowd.
로렘 입숨 친구들 을 제작할 당시에 나는 디지털 플랫폼을 통한 인간의 상호작용, 이미지 생성 기술, 그리고 기타 부조리한 것들에 대해서 탐구하고 있었다. 이 작품의 줄거리는 한 사람이 “로렘 입숨 프렌즈”라는 이름의 앱에서 대화할 상대를 무작위적으로 찾는다는 것이다. 이것은 랜덤채팅 웹사이트와 앱에서 관심과 애정을 찾고자 했던 나의 경험을 반영한다. 인터넷에는 가짜 정체성이 너무 많고, 최근의 이미지 생성 기술은 무엇이 “진짜”인지 구별하는 것을 더 어렵게 한다. 화면 뒤에서 다른 사람들이 우리에게 말을 걸도록 설득하는 것이 우리의 프로필 사진이라면, 존재하지 않는 사람들의 생성된 이미지는 주체성을 가지고 있다. 그들은 새로운 군중이다.
Screened at
MFA ‘21 Group Show, California Institute of the Arts, CA, 2019
ILOVEYOU, Osisun, Seoul, 2019featured in Vassar Review 2020





Yomi 2020
Yomi is an installation piece including an altered talking Yoda toy. As well as moving its head and blinking eyes, it speaks three quotes by Yoda in Star Wars; ‘Fear is the path to the dark side’, ‘Difficult to see, always in motion is the future’, ‘Do or do not, there is no try’.
Yoda is an interesting character to me, as it is an oracle-like character in one of the most commercially succesful science fiction franchises. Through this piece I wanted to ask questions such as, what does it mean to have your own oracle? And what are the implications when a character from a western franchise say things heavily influenced by Asian philosophy? This work was my attempt to playfully analyze the character and its merchandize(the talking yoda robot).
요미는 말하는 요다 장난감을 포함하는 설치 작품이다. 머리를 움직이고 눈을 깜박이는 것뿐만 아니라, 요미는 스타워즈에서 요다가 인용한 세 가지 인용구를 말한다. ‘두려움은 다크 사이드로 가는 길이다’, ‘알기 어렵다, 미래는 언제나 달라진다’, ‘하거나 말거나이지, 시도란 없다’.요다는 가장 성공적인 공상과학 프랜차이즈에서 신탁과 같은 캐릭터로, 나에게 흥미로운 대상이다. 이 작품을 통해 나는 다음과 같은 질문들을 하고 싶었다. 나만의 오라클을 갖는다는 것은 무엇을 의미할까? 그리고 서양 프랜차이즈의 한 인물이 아시아 철학에 의해 크게 영향을 받은 것들을 말할 때 어떤 의미가 있을까? 이 작품은 캐릭터와 그 파생 상품(요다 로봇)을 장난스럽게 분석하려는 시도였다.
Shown in
Living Vacariously Through Us, California Institute of the Arts, CA, 2020

Grocery Shopping Simulator 2020
I made this game using Flash after experiencing the recent COVID crisis. Interestingly Flash was discontinued from the year 2021. The game is unplayable at the moment, I am migrating it to HTML5.
Sisyphus goes grocery shopping…
최근의 COVID 위기를 겪은 후 이 플래시 게임을 만들었다(이 파일 형식은 2020년까지 지원된다. 곧 게임을 업데이트 할 것이다…). 시시포스가 장을 보러 간다
.
$POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS SUBLIMINAL$ 2019
This is a music video about message encryption technology and their uses in today’s world. Subliminal messaging is a technology of doublespeak to manipulate and tune our body and mind. There are many youtube videos that claim to enhance people’s confidence or specific abilities by reprogramming both subconsciousness and consciousness. It is fascinating and also very alarming that we are always surrounded by goals that we can not perceive on the conscious level.
There are two sounds playing at once: saxophone music and positive affirmation phrases. An autotune voice says conventional goals of life throughout the video, but it is barely perceived because of another layer of sound.
이 뮤직 비디오는 메시지 암호화 기술과 그 쓰임새에 관한 것이다. 서브리미널 메시징은 우리의 몸과 마음을 조종하고 조정하기 위한 속임수의 기술이다. 잠재의식과 의식의 재프로그래밍을 통해 사람들의 자신감이나 특정한 능력을 향상시킨다고 주장하는 많은 유튜브 비디오들이 있다. 우리가 의식적인 차원에서 인지할 수 없는 목표들에 항상 둘러싸여 있다는 것은 흥미롭고 또한 매우 놀라운 일이다.동시에 연주되는 두 가지 소리가 있다: 색소폰 음악과 긍정적인 확언 문구이다. 자동음성은 비디오 전체에 걸쳐 삶의 목표들을 이야기하지만, 다른 소리 층 때문에 거의 인식되지 않는다.
DIY Wave 2018
This work is about three different relationships I have had in a 3D chat game. Although I interacted with actual people, I only remember them as their avatars. Avatars reflects individual desires about how to be seen by others. The memories of relationships with multiple identities is reconstructed into a combination of images of saturated avatars in the virtual reality game IMVU.
이 작품은 내가 3D 채팅 게임을 하면서 겪은 세 가지의 서로 다른 관계에 대한 것이다. 비록 실제 사람들과 교류했지만, 나는 그들을 아바타로만 기억한다. 아바타는 다른 사람들에게 보여지는 방법에 대한 개인의 욕망을 반영한다. 다양한 정체성과의 관계에 대한 기억은 가상현실 게임 IMVU의 포화적인 아바타의 이미지들의 조합으로 재구성된다.
Screened at
ILOVEYOU, Osisun, Seoul, 2019
At the Source 2018
At the Source is an homage to Caravaggio’s work, Narcissus at the Source. The narrative of this film is a revised version of the myth of Narcissus where the protagonist falls in love with his reflection on the water. While Caravaggio’s Narcissus falls in love with the fixed state of his body, mine loves the endless possibility of reformation.

물가에서는 카라바조의 작품 물가의 나르시스에 대한 오마주이다. 이 영화의 이야기는 주인공인 나르시스가 물 위에 비친 자신의 모습에 반하는 신화를 수정해서 만든 것이다.
카라바조의 나르시스가 그의 몸의 고정된 상태에 반하는 반면, 나의 나르시스는 끊임없는 재구성의 가능성을 사랑한다.
Screened at
Newhallywood Silent Film Festival, The MAIN, CA, 2020
www.shutterstock.com pic.mhtmlid= 526685350 2016
Oil on canvas, 92 x 92 cm
Questioning myself about producing images in the age of flooding images, I made a painting that could only be appreciated in a non-material state. First, I painted artificial blue(which is a color that gives me the impression of a neutral stock photo) on a square canvas and uploaded it to Shutterstock. Then I traced along the canvas the watermark given to the image by the platform. The title of this work represents the URL of the uploaded picture given at the time of production.
이미지가 넘쳐나는 시대에 이미지를 생성하는 것에 대해 고민하며, 나는 비물질적인 상태에서만 인식될 수 있는 회화를 제작했다.
먼저, 사각 캔버스에 인조적인 파란색(중립적인 스톡 사진의 느낌을 주는 색상)을 칠해 셔터스톡에 올렸다. 그리고 나서 해당 플랫폼에 의해 이미지에 부여된 워터마크를 캔버스를 따라 그렸다. 작품의 제목은 제작 당시 업로드한 사진에 부여된 URL을 나타낸다.


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